Track for sliding doors



p 30, 1952 J; H. BORDEN 2,611,920

TRACK FOR SLIDING DOORS Filed Sept. 14, 1948 2 SHEETSSHEET 1 F "1 r j N I k L ,1 1 l Sept. 30, 1952 .1. H. BORDEN TRACK FOR SLIDING DOORS 2 SHEETSSHEET 2 Filed Sept. 14, 1948 IN VEN TOR. osep/r /7. 50/0'6/7 fi w wfaw Patented Sept. 30, 1952 I ,611,920 "Timer; F03 SLIDING DOORS Joseph Bordem 'loledo, Ohio, as'signor to -Haughton Elevator Company, Toledo, hi0,'a

i ApplicationSeptember14, 1948, Serial o. 49,253

Thisinv'ention relates to elevator'door' hanger mechanisms and, more particularly,., to mechanism for insulating in the hanger, the vibration normally resulting when an. elevator door is sup Z -Clai'n'isJ (01. 16-96) 2 movement so that when the elevator is stopped the two doors mo-veg outwardly simultaneously reachingtheir full open position at the same time and, when being closed, meeting at the center of ported on metal wheels running on metal tracks. 5 the doorway. The combined width of thetwo It is the principal object of this invention to elevator doors must be slightly less than oneprovide a hangerlw'heel, which is vibrationally half of the full width of the elevator so that insulated from the. hanger and the door which there will be room at the side of the door openthe hanger supports-"and a track for the wheel ing for the doors when they are open. which is vibrationally}.insulated from the main In Figure I'the doors 5 and 6 are shown'as bestructural-eleinents ojthe elevator. ing each supported by two hangers, an inner Itis another object .o'ffthisinvention to prohanger 1 and an outer hanger 8. Each of the vide a vibrationally insulated track for an elehangers 1 and 8 is bolted or otherwise secured vator hanger wheel where .thera'il is insulated to the upper edge of its respective door 5" or 6. from the mounting means by an" interposed Each of the hangers T and 8 is equipped 'with'a cushioning member and in which the railmountwheel 9 which runs upon a track It), the track ing means and cushioning member are all 'as-, I0 in turn being supported upon a bracket H sembled relative 'to each'other by a telescoping which issecured to a main crcssframe member operation therebyeliminating any direct metallic 12 of the cab. I contact between the several members offit'he In the center parting door construction shown track. y in Figure I the simultaneous operation of the These and other objects will be apparentfrom doors is insured by an endless cable l3 which the drawings, in which: I is secured to each of the inner hangers I and Figure I is a view -in elevation, partly broken extends laterally to the ends of the elevator away and somewhat 'conventionalized, of an ele-. frame where it passes around a pair'of idler vator cab having two center parting doors suppulleys l4, one of which is located at eachend ported by hanger mechanism embodying the inoithe bracket H. The cable l3',as shown in vention- 7 a 1 I Figure 1, 'may include turnbuckles I5 or similar Figure II is a greatly enlarged fragmentary devices for maintaining tension in the cable:- In isometric view takenirom the lower inner side most center partingv door installations only one of one of the door hangers. I H e 7 g r of thedoors is connected to the door'opening Figure III is a similarviewbut of idler pulley mechanism which usually is mounted on top of mechanism located at one'of the outer ends of the elevator cab. For simplification; thismech the hanger track. 1-

anism is not shown, since it does notconstitute Figure IV is a. vertical sectional view on an part of the instant invention. g enlarged scale taken; substantially from the po- In'Figure II an outer hanger 8 is shown on a sition indicated by the line IV- -IV in Figure I. substantially larger scale and with certain parts Figure V is a fragmentary view in elevation of its component parts'broken away and insec taken from the left side of Figure IV and showing tion so that the structure of the device can be a hanger 'upthrust bearing. 0 explained. To the top edge of the. door 5 there A conventional elevator cab usually consists of is secured by means of bolts 16 the lower horia framework around which is erected panelling zontal flange of a hangerbracket l1 whichconwhich encloses the cab and which usually is dec stitutes the main structural member of the hangorated on its interior surface. The elevator cab, er 8. The hanger wheel 9 is 'rotatably mounted indicated bythe reference numeral 1 in Figure .I, upon a stub axle l8 which extends inwardly from has laterally extending shoes 2 which slide. on the hanger bracket II. The stub axle lllha s a vertically extending rails 3. The cab is lifted by flanged portion l9 at its outer end which .posi one' or more cables 4 which extend upwardly to tions it relative to the hanger' bracketfll and the elevator machinery usually located in a maalso positions/the edge of an inner 'race' Zfl, o; a chine room at the top of the building in which wheel bearing 2|. The wheel bearing 21' isjsethe elevator is installed. v cured on the axle l8 by a split ring 2 2- which Elevators often are equipped with center partis snapped in a groove 23 cutinthe oute'r end of ing double assistance which operate in'conthe-axle 118 on the'outer side" of the innenrace junction with floor landing doors- (not shown). 20. The wheel 9 has a center bore 2 lxwh 1 ch 1s providedwith a lip 25 at its inner end. The

The elevator doors 5 and 6 are actuated for lateral bearing 2| has an outer race 26 which is positioned between the flanges of a U-shaped annular vibration absorbing element 27. The vibration absorbing element 2'! fits tightly in the bore 2 3 and against the lip 25 of the wheel 9. The vibration absorbing element 27 and the bearing 2| are held in the wheel 9 by an annular retainer 28. The retainer 23 flts snugly within the bore 24 and is held in plac'e by swedging the metal together as indicated by the numeral 29.

The periphery of the wheel 9 is grooved and rides upon the cylindrical surface of a rail 35 which is mounted in a rail retainer 3| in turn supported upon a mounting member 32 which is secured to a lower outwardly turned flange '33 of the bracket The rail 33 and its retainer 3i both are made of metal. The retainer 3| preferably is extruded from a soft metal, such as brass, the rail 3|) being made of a hard metal such as stainless steel rod. Theretainer 3| has two upwardly extending arms 34'which embrace the rail 30 extending beyond its center lineto retain it fixedly in the retainer. The lower portion of the retainer Si is formed into two .substantially L-shaped flanges 35 which extend downwardly and inwardly. The upper portion of the mounting member 32 is formed in a T- shaped flange 36, the horizontal crossarm of the T lying between and above the horizontal portions of the flanges 35. The mounting member 32 also preferably is an extruded piece, again being madeof a soft metal;

Between the flanges 3 of the retainer 3| and the flange 35 of the mounting member 32 there are located a pair of approximately C-shaped vibration absorbing cushions 31 which, again, are extruded, but in thisinstance are made of relatively soft rubber. The cushions 31 xtend between the adjacent sides of the flanges 35 and 36 and the base of the mounting member 33.

The track as a whole, i.- e., including itl s'components the railtt, retainer 3|, mounting member 32 and cushions 3'i,i s assembled from pieces oi the severalmembers, each of which extends the full Width of the elevator. By virtue of'the design just explained the pieces can all be made of extruded material with the exception 'of the rod-like rail 30. The various parts are assembled by first lubricating them with some material such as stearic acid or soap and then telescoping the members relative to each other until the assembly has been accomplished' It will be noted that the flanges 35 and 36'are of such size that they do not contact each other in any place and that where the cushions 31 do not extend, there is left an approximately C-shaped open space 38' extending above the top of the crossarm oi'the T-shaped flange 36 and along the inner sides of the vertica-l arms of the L-shaped brackets '35. There is thus provided clearance between the rigidly mounted member 32 and the track retainer 3| so that thetwo members can move an-' gularly relative to each other without engage ment' with the angular movement resistr-id by the resilience of the cushions 3'1. The rubber material from which the cushions 37 are made" is selected to have a degree of resistance to com pression suificient to prevent engagement between any portions of the mounting member 32 and the retainer 3| except under most unsual conditions.

At the upper corner of the hanger 8 farthest removed from the stub axle |8 there is located'an upthrust roller 39 which consists merely of a ball bearing having an outer race made of a hard metal and which is mounted upon a stud 46 fixed on a small offset plate 4| by means of a nut 42. The plate 4| has a hole 43 considerably larger than the diameter of the stud 40 so that the vertical and horizontal position of the upthrust roller 39 can be adjusted to track the roller on the underside of an upper horizontal flange 44 of the bracket thus to prevent the hanger (and the door it supports) from rocking on a horizontal axis parallel to the axis of the wheel 9, which would bind the hanger and interfere with free movement of the door.

"Each of the hangers 8 carries a small angle bracket 45 to which is secured a felt pad 46. The felt pears is thoroughly impregnated with lubricant and, Figure IV, slides along the upper surface of the rail 39 to keep it cleanof grit and dirt so that a smooth surface is provided for the wheel 9.

At each outermost end of the bracket N there is located an idler pulley I4 (Figure III) to return the cable"'|3 so that the two doors will operate simultaneously. Each of the idler pulleys i4 isrotatablymounted on the end of a stud 4'! and retained thereon by a split ring 48. The idler pulleys" I4 are grooved to receive the cable l3. As also can be seen in Figure III, the bracket H is fixedly secured to the crossframe member 12 by a plurality of machine screws 49 two of which are shown in Figure III.

The vibration 'ofthe elevator doors which results from their'movement' horizontally to and from open'and closed positions'is first partially insulated" by the annular vibration absorbing elements?! so thatcertain vibrations are stopped at this point and do not even reach the wheels 9. Other vibrations of' greater amplitude such as the slight swaying of the doors are minimized by the upthrust' rolls 39 and'then insulated from the elevator cabitself by'the cushions 31 interposed between the rail retainer 3| and the track mounting member 32. Conversely, any vibrations which may exist in'the body of the cab are insulated from the elevator doors by the same two vibration insulating elements in the hanger mechanism embodying the invention.

"The simplification of the vibration absorbing mechanism'resulting from the use of track elements having interlocking portions which are insulated from each other by the cushions 31 interlocked therewith, results in a structure in which inexpensive extruded parts can be used to form theinterlockingvibration absorbing track thus greatly reducing the cost of such a mechanism.

Variouschangesin the particular shape of the vibration insulating members of the structure may'well be madewithout departure from the subject'and'scope of the claims.

Having described the invention, I claim:

1. A vibration absorbing track'for an elevator door hanger 'having a rotatably journaled wheel, comprising, an elongated rail on which said wheel runs, 'a support member extending along the rail and'a cushioning member located between said rail and saifd support member, the cross-sectional shapes of said rail, said support member and said cushioning member'being the same through their lengths and having integral laterally extending interlocking flanges, the flanges of said cushioning member being interposed between the flanges of said rail and said support member. I

2. Avib'ration absorbing track for an elevator door hangerfsaid track comprising a support member, a rail and a cushioning member, said support member comprising an elongated memher having upper and lower flanges extending laterally from the top and bottom of a central vertical web, said rail comprising an elongated body having a generally U-shaped cross section the sides of which loosely embrace the support member and have inwardly directed portions fitting beneath the upper flange of the support member, and said cushioning member comprising elongated resilient members embracing the inwardly directed portions of the rail and being embraced between the upper and lower flanges of the support member, whereby said members and rail are held in assembled relation by the interlocking of the rail portions and support member flanges.

JOSEPH H. BURDEN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

